Lou Xiaoyu was slightly taken aback when Lu Yu proposed entering a place together with five mutated Star Souls.
“Together?” Lao Xiaoyu looked at Lu Yu in surprise, her expression somewhat bewildered, not yet comprehending.
Chen Hui almost bit his tongue in surprise and exclaimed, “No way! You’re also a Mutated Star Soul!”
Lu Yu’s face turned cold as he said, “Good to know. Be careful with your life if you say anything!”
“Don’t, don’t. I haven’t lived enough yet,” Chen Hui hurriedly waved his hands, chuckled nervously, and said, “I was just asking. I didn’t hear anything just now.”
“Mr. Lu, please don’t scare Chen Hui like that. He’s really a good person. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have survived until today,” Lou Xiaoyu quickly defended Chen Hui. Only then did she realize that Lu Yu was also a mutated star soul.
“Senior apprentice sister, don’t joke around,” Chen Hui said, unusually serious and no longer smiling. “I’ve told you before—on the night the apocalypse arrived, everyone was fleeing. If you hadn’t pulled me along, I wouldn’t have even left a trace of bones behind. I’ve searched this entire city for you for such a long time, and finally found you. This is just my way of repaying you. I could never repay your kindness in a lifetime. So please, don’t help me again—otherwise, I really won’t be able to repay you anymore.”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Lu Yu’s mouth. Looking at Chen Hui’s sincere expression and tone, this was not a joke.
He talked a lot with Chen Hui along the way, and even after entering, he kept observing all of Chen Hui’s actions, every glance, and even every movement.
All of these actions can be analyzed to determine a person’s character.
This is also the reason why Chen Yu rarely shows his emotions in public.
Just as saying too much often leads to mistakes, displaying too much of yourself allows others to observe and perceive more.
If he hadn’t seen through Chen Hui’s true nature, Lu Yu would never have revealed his secret here.
“Be careful. It won’t do you any good to speak out,” Lu Yu said, then turned his head to look at Lou Xiaoyu. “I wonder if Miss Lou will agree to the terms I mentioned?”
Lu Yu pushed the third-grade star spirit stone toward Lao Xiaoyu.
Lou Xiaoyu looked at the Star Soul Stone, her hands tightly clasped together, unsure whether she should agree or not.
Lu Yu said solemnly, “Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to do anything against your conscience. Five people are going in this time, and I can’t guarantee there won’t be any accidents. The reason I’m bringing you along is simply to increase our chances of survival. Once we’re inside, I’ll take responsibility for your safety. Before I die, I won’t let any harm come to you.”
“Then… then I want two!” Lou Xiaoyu hesitated for a moment before lifting her head to look at Lu Yu. “I’ll take one, and one for Chen Hui too. He’s also about to reach the peak of the third level.”
“No problem,” Lu Yu said cheerfully, quickly taking out another Star Spirit Stone from his backpack and placing it on the table.
If it were someone else making this request, it wouldn’t even be worth a single grade-three spirit stone.
Xiaoyu Lou was different, though.
Don’t mention two pieces, even ten times more, Lou Xiaoyu’s ability is worth that price.
“Then I promise you,” Lou Xiaoyu also nodded seriously.
“Senior sister, thank you,” Chen Hui said, looking at Lou Xiaoyu, almost shedding tears.
Tier-3 Spirit Stones may not mean much to the mine controllers, but they indeed hold significant value for them.
Even at this moment, Lou Xiaoyu had not forgotten him, feeling that the debt of affection she owed him had grown even greater.
Chen Hui wiped his tears vigorously and said, “Mr. Lu, now I’ll tell you the true effect of my ability. All the monsters attracted by me will reach the peak of their own level. Moreover, there’s a certain chance that the monsters’ levels will increase by one. So, please be careful, Mr. Lu.”
“This kind of ability is indeed quite special,” Lu Yu said with an unchanged expression, though he felt quite surprised inside.
“Is it only effective against monsters?” Lu Yu asked, thinking for a moment.
“It’s also effective against demon races, and it will cause them to lose their sanity, using their utmost abilities to attack you. Moreover, this skill currently sealed two abilities: one is to attract monsters of a certain level, and the other grants two chances to permanently increase the level of a designated demon race by one level.”
“Hiss!” Lu Yu couldn’t help but suck in a breath through his teeth; this time, he was genuinely shocked.
Lu Yu instinctively tried to visualize in his mind how this ability would affect him as it developed. He wondered what effect it would have if this ability were added to his own.
Lu Yu’s heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an immense force, almost causing him to suffocate.
“Is your ability unique?” Lu Yu forcefully suppressed his inner shock, trying to keep his tone calm.
“This isn’t described,” Chen Hui said, shaking his head.
“Tell me, which monster dropped this ability of yours,” Lu Yu said, taking a deep breath and speaking in a low, heavy voice. “As for the price, you name it!”
“Uh,” Chen Hui murmured, slightly taken aback. He had expected Lu Yu might ask about the origin of his abilities. However, he hadn’t anticipated that Lu Yu would let him set the price himself!
“This, this—” Chen Hui’s heart pounded wildly. He naturally understood that setting the price himself meant that Lu Yu was determined to obtain this ability at all costs.
“Then, what about our cooperation?” Chen Hui was still quite concerned about this point and asked in a slightly worried tone.
“You teamed up with me just to get the loot, didn’t you? No, wait—that’s not it,” Chen Yu stared at Chen Hui coldly and said, “What else are you hiding from me? I hate it when my partners keep important things from me.”
Chen Hui didn’t expect that he would be caught off guard by Lu Yu just for saying one wrong sentence. He couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly and said, “Ha, well, actually, my senior sister’s Star Soul has an ability that can absorb the energy from nearby dying monsters to enhance the Star Soul’s progress. So, you know what I mean!”
“Oh, I see now,” Lu Yu smiled. “Let’s continue our cooperation. Tell me, where did your ability manifest? Of course, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I won’t force you.”
Chen Hui asked cautiously, “Shall I place a bid?”
Chen Hui still found it a bit hard to believe.
“That’s fine. You name the price, and I won’t haggle,” Lu Yu replied seriously.
Chen Hui tested the waters by saying, “Five thousand grade-one star spirits, one hundred thousand grade-one star spirit pearls, and ten thousand mutated star spirit pearls!”
This price was considered astronomical in his mind.
Chen Hui simply wanted to test Lu Yu and see how sincere he really was.
“Okay!” Lu Yu agreed readily without a moment’s hesitation, nodding cheerfully.
This ability isn’t worth that price if it’s the only one he has. Because he has the Slaughter Promotion, which can enhance the effect of his skills.
“Uh!” Chen Hui’s face immediately turned bright red. He felt as if he were suffocating, frantically grabbing at his throat, nearly going crazy.
His expectation was that Lu Yu would hesitate for a moment, and then lower the price slightly.
Chen Hui’s psychological price was satisfied at just one-third of the quoted price.
Lu Yu accepted the offer without even thinking, which left Chen Hui feeling a bit stunned.
Lu Yu continued, “If you really want all these things, you’d better find a place to store them. Together, they’re enough to fill up a house of a hundred square meters.”
“This, I—” Chen Hui was indeed frustrated and somewhat at a loss.
A few seconds ago, he was still thinking about how to become a millionaire.
Before long, he had become a wealthy man.
Reaching his life goals so quickly left him genuinely unsure of what to do next.
Lu Yu said, “You can continue to think about it. Come find me when you have space to store it, and we can complete the transaction.”
“No, that’s not necessary. Just leave the items at your place for now. I’ll start looking for a place the next two days.” Chen Hui said, taking out a Spirit Pearl from his pocket and handing it to Lu Yu. “I promise you, this is the second and final one in Nanjing. As for other cities, it’s unlikely to find such an ability again.”
“You’ve already made it here?” Lu Yu looked at Chen Hui in surprise as he took out the Spirit Star Pearl.
This Chen Hui seems to be very thoughtful and has already recognized the importance of this ability.
After I demonstrated my ability, I knew this thing should be worth something. So I tried for a long time, but not a single one dropped. Later, I recalled the process of obtaining this ability. Before getting it, I had killed thirteen magic apes, one black magic wolf, then another magic ape, and finally two black magic wolves. It was only when those two black magic wolves died simultaneously that the ability dropped. I tried following this sequence again, and sure enough, I obtained another one. Later, I experimented with different orders but never succeeded. I’m certain that dropping this ability is related to the order in which these monsters are killed. And it should also be connected to the Star Soldier I currently possess.
Chen Hui said, “My star soldier has a 7% chance of allowing a dead monster to condense a mutated star soul bead. And this star soldier has already shattered. Later, I tried borrowing another star soldier with an 8% chance, but still failed. I’m certain that even a slight deviation in the probability of the star soldier—or even the order in which the monsters are killed—will not work. The probability of someone else possessing the same star soldier as me and then killing the monsters in this exact order is one in hundreds of millions. That’s why I say this ability is unlikely to appear again—it’s simply too rare for someone to encounter such a one-in-a-hundred-million chance.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll reserve the ability to elevate the Demon Race to the next level,” Lu Yu said. Picking up the Star Spirit Pearl, he gently crushed it while smiling slightly at Chen Hui. “As for the price, when the time comes that I need you, you’ll set the price yourself. And remember, you must never tell anyone else about this ability of yours, nor allow anyone else to find out.”
“Reservation?” Chen Hui blinked his eyes. This time he caught on quickly and immediately understood. He nodded with a smile and said, “If I survive, this ability will be reserved for Mr. Lu.”
Before Lu Yu’s eyes, the power of the mutated Star Spirit Pearl had already condensed into form.
A faint smile appeared on Lu Yu’s lips as he said, “Alright, let’s go. We still need to continue our cooperation, and I could certainly use many monsters to enhance my abilities.”
…
Soul of the Phantom——
Level: One
Attribute: None.
Description: The Ghost Soul emits a unique aura that attracts nearby monsters, while absorbing the bloodthirsty energy released when monsters die in order to grow. The Ghost Soul can be upgraded up to level nine.
Ability: A Level 1 Ghost Soul can attract all living beings within a three-kilometer radius, causing them to lose control and attack you. The monsters drawn in will reach the peak of their respective levels, regardless of their original strength. There is a 1% chance that the attracted monsters will be upgraded by one level and also reach the peak of that level.
Ability 2 (Seal): Unlocks at level 6. The Ghost Soul can release an aura that attracts monsters of specified levels, including demons.
Ability 3 (Seal): Can be unlocked at level 9. The Ghost Soul converts the accumulated bloodlust within into energy, allowing a demon to temporarily ascend one level. This ability can be used twice, but each demon can only benefit from its effect once.
…
This ability is exactly what Lu Yu needs.
However, what Lu Yu needed more was the enhancement brought by the effect of promotion through slaughter—
The third ability allows the demon race to increase their maximum level by one.
A level-seven demon who can instantly ascend to level nine—that was exactly the outcome he desired!
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